Full Home Non-Conference Schedule Announced

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

UTEP lost 4 guys to graduation. No coach was bringing them back. The other three were the back end of that rotation. Gilyard, Thomas, Osborne, and Magee were the four players eligible to return that played the most on last year's team. So while they don't have experienced depth, most of their starting lineup will be returning players that played significant minutes.

And it sounds like glass half empty when you cite T-Rank to justify why Southern will be bad but ignore where T-Rank has North Dakota.

UTEP didn't lose returning players but they did lose their recruiting class which contained a pair of top 200 type players. That's why earlier in this thread I said UTEP wouldn't be that bad but then reevaluated when I took a closer look at their roster.

And I wasn't ignoring North Dakota's T-Rank. I said above that I expect them to finish 7/9 in the Summit and T-Rank projects 6/9 with #7 and #8 being very close to them.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Let's have the North Dakota game as turn back the clock night. Fighting Sioux vs Warriors!

[GGGG]

Let's have the North Dakota game as turn back the clock night. Fighting Sioux vs Warriors!

Yeah let's not do that.

[fjm]

When is the gol dern PNIT NYC games getting released!?

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Charleston, SC (Charleston Southern) and Daytona Beach (B-C) would be nice road visits.

[The Equalizer]

I use Warren Nolan which I have found to usually be accurate. According to that site Nova's overall SOS was #5 and non-conference was #12. Now what I'm not sure and may have missed was if Warren Nolan factors the postseason into those numbers.

I believe Warren Nolan continues calculating during post season--note they show our RPI and SOS based on record of 21-14, which includes our NIT games.

CBS and Realtime RPI both show an SOS of 25 based on a record of 19-13, which is through the conference tournament but before post season. 

[brewcity77]

Ultimately this is correct.  If this season comes down to strength of schedule to determine if they make the tournament, it is ultimately a disappointment.  And yeah I know that it also comes into play with seeding, but I don't think we are talking about huge swings in seeding here.

My expectation is that they go undefeated at home non conference.  A KSU loss would be understandable, but a disappointment.  MU should win the rest.

Agreed completely.

From a control perspective in terms of buy games, there's one real home run (Buffalo) and two disappointments (Southern and Presbyterian). North Dakota, UTEP, and Charleston Southern are okay games. They'll all likely win double digit D1 games on the season, which for me is more of a barometer of a good buy than strictly going by rankings.

I imagine we were somewhat forced into Presbyterian because of the NIT Tip-Off. It could be worse, they should get their best player back; the Blue Hose were 5-8 in D1 games before Francois Lewis was declared ineligible and 3-13 after. Hopefully their new coach does a better job than the last guy who had them sub-325 in Pomeroy his last 5 years.

Southern...we'll see. In recent history, they've been a decent buy team. Sean Woods, their new coach, has some character questions but has been a successful head coach at every stop.

The 7 softest home games won't make or break the schedule. Win them all and go at least 3-3 in the rest and we'll be fine.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

You know how MU can easily improve their RPI, regardless of their schedule?? Win your home games(and don't lose to DePaul)...it's really that simple. That's a big reason their RPI was as low as it was last year, regardless of how tough their Non con schedule ended up being. For RPI purposes, losing at home KILLS you, regardless if it's Nova, or Bethune Cookman...It's time MU regains a true home court advantage, something that has been missing under Wojo.

The new arena will help tremendously.  Been saying it fir 30 years, but the BC suuuuuucked!!  Was a nice venue n when there were 17k plus fans it was great.  But the other 95% of tge time provided very little homecourt advantage.  Hopefully the FF provides that true home court advantage that other schools enjoy.

[barfolomew]

Yeah let's not do that.

How about the Fighting Sue vs. the Worriers?

[GGGG]

How about the Fighting Sue vs. the Worriers?

The Marquette Worriers would be an appropriate Scoop nickname.

[Jay Bee]

You know how MU can easily improve their RPI, regardless of their schedule?? Win your home games(and don't lose to DePaul)...it's really that simple. That's a big reason their RPI was as low as it was last year, regardless of how tough their Non con schedule ended up being. For RPI purposes, losing at home KILLS you, regardless if it's Nova, or Bethune Cookman...It's time MU regains a true home court advantage, something that has been missing under Wojo.

#FakeNews
#Lies

This is false. It depends on the specifics. If last year we had one more game and it was a loss at home to Nova, it would not have killed us.. rather it would have been essentially a wash to our RPI.

[Nukem2]

#FakeNews
#Lies

This is false. It depends on the specifics. If last year we had one more game and it was a loss at home to Nova, it would not have killed us.. rather it would have been essentially a wash to our RPI.

True re the likes of Nova and Xavier last season. Though, having multiple home losses certainly is not a good recipe for a solid RPI.....

[muguru]

True re the likes of Nova and Xavier last season. Though, having multiple home losses certainly is not a good recipe for a solid RPI.....

This exactly...you simply cannot lose 3-5 home games every year, that will kill your RPI, plain and simple.

[bilsu]

This exactly...you simply cannot lose 3-5 home games every year, that will kill your RPI, plain and simple.

I agree with this 100%. In addition to this had we beat either Villanova or Xavier we would of had the quality win we needed to get a bid. The Villanova win is what got us in the year before.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

This exactly...you simply cannot lose 3-5 home games every year, that will kill your RPI, plain and simple.

...unless those losses are to top teams, then it will either be no impact or can even benefit your RPI. Of course winning against those top teams is much better for your RPI but losing does not kill it.

If teams are as good as they are expected to be, losing to Villanova or Kansas State at home will not kill our RPI. Buffalo possibly too, they should be an RPI gold mine because they should go undefeated in the MAC. Everyone else? Probably hurts our RPI.

[bilsu]

...unless those losses are to top teams, then it will either be no impact or can even benefit your RPI. Of course winning against those top teams is much better for your RPI but losing does not kill it.

If teams are as good as they are expected to be, losing to Villanova or Kansas State at home will not kill our RPI. Buffalo possibly too, they should be an RPI gold mine because they should go undefeated in the MAC. Everyone else? Probably hurts our RPI.

Should we still be looking at RPI? Last year the NCAA started using quadrants (?) or something like that. Basically they look at your records against quadrant 1, quadrant 2. Quadrant 3 and 4 wins only matter, because you need to avoid bad losses. Villanova and Kansas St may be our only quadrant 1 home games, which I believe have to be top 25 teams. Road game quadrant 1, I believe have to be top 50 teams. I am not sure how neutral court games fit in. Feel free to correct me on this. We will have at least one quadrant 1 game in NIT. Maybe 6 conference road games and Indiana. These are the games that matter the most. 22-9 with all quadrant 1 losses would make me very nervous at bid time. Basically whether an opponent has a 200 rpi or 300 rpi does not matter much. You simply cannot lose to either.

[Jay Bee]

Should we still be looking at RPI? Last year the NCAA started using quadrants (?) or something like that. Basically they look at your records against quadrant 1, quadrant 2. Quadrant 3 and 4 wins only matter, because you need to avoid bad losses. Villanova and Kansas St may be our only quadrant 1 home games, which I believe have to be top 25 teams. Road game quadrant 1, I believe have to be top 50 teams. I am not sure how neutral court games fit in. Feel free to correct me on this.

Yeah, QUADRANTS BASED ON RPI. sheesh. And no, your understanding of the home/road splits are off. Yikes.

[brewcity77]

Should we still be looking at RPI? Last year the NCAA started using quadrants (?) or something like that. Basically they look at your records against quadrant 1, quadrant 2. Quadrant 3 and 4 wins only matter, because you need to avoid bad losses. Villanova and Kansas St may be our only quadrant 1 home games, which I believe have to be top 25 teams. Road game quadrant 1, I believe have to be top 50 teams. I am not sure how neutral court games fit in. Feel free to correct me on this. We will have at least one quadrant 1 game in NIT. Maybe 6 conference road games and Indiana. These are the games that matter the most. 22-9 with all quadrant 1 losses would make me very nervous at bid time. Basically whether an opponent has a 200 rpi or 300 rpi does not matter much. You simply cannot lose to either.

Except the quadrant system was based on RPI. So until they change their metric, it still matters. And while a sub-160 home loss is the same regarding quadrants, the committee will notice the difference between Rutgers and Grambling.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Should we still be looking at RPI? Last year the NCAA started using quadrants (?) or something like that. Basically they look at your records against quadrant 1, quadrant 2. Quadrant 3 and 4 wins only matter, because you need to avoid bad losses. Villanova and Kansas St may be our only quadrant 1 home games, which I believe have to be top 25 teams. Road game quadrant 1, I believe have to be top 50 teams. I am not sure how neutral court games fit in. Feel free to correct me on this. We will have at least one quadrant 1 game in NIT. Maybe 6 conference road games and Indiana. These are the games that matter the most. 22-9 with all quadrant 1 losses would make me very nervous at bid time. Basically whether an opponent has a 200 rpi or 300 rpi does not matter much. You simply cannot lose to either.

What quadrant a team falls into depends on their RPI and where the game was played. RPI is still heavily used by the committee as well.

The quadrants are broken down like this:
Quad 1: H (1-30) N (1-50) A (1-75)
Quad 2: H (31-75) N (51-100) A (76-135)
Quad 3: H (76-160) N (101-200) A (136-240)
Quad 4: H (161-353) N (201-353) A (241-353)

[Its DJOver]

How many times are we playing SH?

[bilsu]

Except the quadrant system was based on RPI. So until they change their metric, it still matters. And while a sub-160 home loss is the same regarding quadrants, the committee will notice the difference between Rutgers and Grambling.

However, I was thinking more in line with the argument whether a team on our schedule has an RPI of 280 or 330. I do not think it really matters. Whether we play a 280 or 330 team does not effect our game against Villanova. Villanova will be a quadrant 1 game no matter who else we are playing. The same goes for our other quadrant 1 opponents. A higher RPI for us may make us a quadrant 1 opponent for them, but does a 280 vs. 330 opponent really matter that much. Look at it this way assuming we beat the four worse teams on our schedule is the committee going to be impressed that we beat four teams in the 280's vs. four teams in the 300's. Given no change in the other games, we may have a higher RPI having beaten the four 280 teams, but in the end is the quadrant 1 games that are going to matter. That is the point I am trying to make. Whether a team on our schedule is somewhat above or bellow 300th in the end does not matter.

[Jay Bee]

However, I was thinking more in line with the argument whether a team on our schedule has an RPI of 280 or 330. I do not think it really matters. Whether we play a 280 or 330 team does not effect our game against Villanova. Villanova will be a quadrant 1 game no matter who else we are playing. The same goes for our other quadrant 1 opponents. A higher RPI for us may make us a quadrant 1 opponent for them, but does a 280 vs. 330 opponent really matter that much. Look at it this way assuming we beat the four worse teams on our schedule is the committee going to be impressed that we beat four teams in the 280's vs. four teams in the 300's. Given no change in the other games, we may have a higher RPI having beaten the four 280 teams, but in the end is the quadrant 1 games that are going to matter. That is the point I am trying to make. Whether a team on our schedule is somewhat above or bellow 300th in the end does not matter.

I get what you're asserting but I think it's largely baseless. You're asserting quadrants matter a ton.

That said, it indeed does not matter if an opp is in the 280s or 300s for a completely different reason — that reason is that your opponent's RPI doesn't directly impact your RPI... playing #305 can be better for your RPI than playing #285.

[brewcity77]

I get what you're asserting but I think it's largely baseless. You're asserting quadrants matter a ton.

That said, it indeed does not matter if an opp is in the 280s or 300s for a completely different reason — that reason is that your opponent's RPI doesn't directly impact your RPI... playing #305 can be better for your RPI than playing #285.

You know if RPI is still in effect, we'll be making this same type of post in 12 months. 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

However, I was thinking more in line with the argument whether a team on our schedule has an RPI of 280 or 330. I do not think it really matters. Whether we play a 280 or 330 team does not effect our game against Villanova. Villanova will be a quadrant 1 game no matter who else we are playing. The same goes for our other quadrant 1 opponents. A higher RPI for us may make us a quadrant 1 opponent for them, but does a 280 vs. 330 opponent really matter that much. Look at it this way assuming we beat the four worse teams on our schedule is the committee going to be impressed that we beat four teams in the 280's vs. four teams in the 300's. Given no change in the other games, we may have a higher RPI having beaten the four 280 teams, but in the end is the quadrant 1 games that are going to matter. That is the point I am trying to make. Whether a team on our schedule is somewhat above or bellow 300th in the end does not matter.

First, what Jay Bee said.

Second, while the quadrants matter, a team's individual RPI still matters.

Third, the committee isn't blind when it comes to quadrants. I think you are mostly right about the committee valuing all Quad 4 victories equally, I don't think the same can be said of of the other quadrants. If you just look through the lens of the quadrants, a road win against the #75 team is equal to a road win against the #1 team....but obviously one is much more significant than the other. Marquette's Q1 record (3-8) last season was actually pretty solid compared to other bubble teams, but our Q1 wins were not equal to other teams' Q1 wins. Winning at #31 Seton Hall, #36 Providence, and #50 Creighton just isn't as sexy as say winning vs. #12 Kentucky, at #17 Arizona, and at #37 USC. That's one of the reasons why UCLA was dancing and we were in the NIT.

[willie warrior]

Respectable schedule but anything less than undefeated at home in non-conf would be disappointing.

Sorry. Not a respectable schedule. It is a pad your record schedule.